Mark Levy challenges Roddey

Photos

Mark and Barbara Levy

By Ginny Privitar

CHESTER — One more hat is being thrown in the ring for the 99th District State Assembly seat, this one by Mark Levy, a Republican from Salisbury Mills. He intends to run as a write-in candidate for the Republican Party primary on Sept. 13.

Levy says he's not a politician, nor a hand-picked candidate of the political elites, but a private citizen who believes the New York Legislature is a total mess.

He had an early interest in politics and studied for a political science degree. He worked on John Anderson’s 1980 presidential campaign and Ed Koch’s 1982 gubernatorial campaign. But he eventually became disenchanted with politics.

Why is he getting involved now?

“I’ve seen county government go from middle of the road during the Clinton and Bush years," he said. "I would like as much as possible to bring it back to the center and the right. Most of what is wrong with government is their idea that people think that in order to live better lives, we should be 'redistributing the wealth.'"

Levy believes career politicians “addict many voters by creating new entitlement programs, which causes our taxes to constantly rise. Furthermore, our legislators play favorites to some groups by using ‘Member Items,’ which are nothing more than legalized bribes, to grant money to specific voter groups in their home districts.”

He says high taxes and massive generational debt are the result, and will last long after these politicians leave office.

“It is no longer acceptable to just sit on the sidelines and let the party leaders continue to dictate the choices we have to represent us," he said. So he is running as a write-in candidate.

He strongly believes the best government is one limited in its ability to tax and to spend.

“I believe in equal opportunity, not equal outcomes or any other ‘social justice’ nonsense," he said. He said the safety net should be reserved to help those in deep trouble, not to redistribute wealth and stoke class warfare for political gain.

Levy says he's a realist who knows how difficult it will be to try to change the culture in Albany, and how career politicians see each office as a stepping-stone to higher office, rather than a sacred trust to do right by their constituents.

He is firmly against the proposal to raise Tappan Zee Bridge tolls to $14 to build a new bridge, calling it “a nightmare for many Rockland and Orange County workers. It will cause massive congestion on the Bear Mountain Bridge, and on Route 84 and the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge too.”

Born in 1959, Levy moved with his family to New Windsor in 1970, and then to Washingtonville in 1975. He attended John S. Burke Catholic High School and later Columbia and New York University, where he earned a B.A. in politic science in 1983. He said he received scholarships and worked his way through school to avoid student loan debt.

He and his wife, Barbara, formerly of Chester, moved to Salisbury Mills in 2001. They have four children who are either in college or have already graduated.

Levy has been a project or systems manager with Sony and Medco and has been an IT Consultant for 11 years for four major clients, IBM, UPS, BMW, and Pepsi. He assures Republican voters that his political beliefs and his extensive career experience make him an ideal candidate to represent the people of the 99th Congressional District.

Others running for the same seat include Kyle Roddey, the Village of Goshen mayor, who has the endorsement of the Republican, Conservative, and Independence parties; James Skoufis of Woodbury, who has the Democratic endorsement; and Colin Schmitt of New Windsor, who has received the endorsement of Carl Paladino, the Republican who ran against Andrew Cuomo for governor in 2010.

The Republican Party Primary and Independence Party Primary elections will be held on Sept. 13.

“It is no longer acceptable to just sit on the sidelines and let the party leaders continue to dictate the choices we have to represent us.